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Syrian departure
unleashes memories
By Marianne
Stigset
BEIRUT - The Syrian military and
intelligence withdrawal from Lebanon finalized
last week following intense international pressure
marks the beginning of a new era.
For the
first time in three decades, Lebanon finds itself
free from armed conflict and foreign occupation.
As the country grapples with its newfound freedom,
taboos related to a heavy past are gradually
falling. Young and old alike are unleashing
pent-up emotions and memories, each in their own
way.
"We started dancing in the street
even before they turned the corner," said Mariam
Majzoub, a resident of the Bekaa Valley on the
Lebanese-Syrian border. "We could finally express
ourselves, and there was nothing they could do
about it."
Hers is one of many voices that
have increasingly been making themselves heard
since the assassination of former premier Rafik
Hariri in February triggered a public outcry and
catapulted the country into political and social
upheaval. Local newspapers carry daily accounts of
civilians describing incidents of torture, arrest,
humiliation or confiscation of property by the
Syrians.
"We can talk of a catharsis
taking place now," said Lebanese psychiatrist and
psychoanalyst Shawqi Azouri. "The media refer to
Hariri's assassination as the final drop, which is
an accurate way of describing it. Hariri's death
stirred up all the emotions that had been building
up since 1975 [when Lebanon's civil war began],
all the things that had remained unspoken."
The assassination affected the entire
Lebanese population, Azouri said. "Anyone who had
lost a person dear to them during the war and who
had never got an answer as to why this had
happened and therefore never come to terms with
their loss, found themselves mourning Hariri and,
by extension, mourning their own dead."
Lebanon's post-war years in the 1990s were
marked by a silent resumption of day-to-day life.
Debates were held on the country's physical
reconstruction, yet how to address the ravaged
psychological state of the nation was a question
meticulously set aside.
No South
African-style truth and reconciliation commission
was formed, few trials were held, and even fewer
public apologies heard. Syria's heavy-handed
control of the country, backed by the much-feared
Mukhabarat (intelligence services) and a Lebanese
political leadership approved by Damascus made for
an environment hostile to addressing injustices
past and present.
In Azouri's eyes, the
upheaval in Lebanon since February ends a rule of
terror that prevented the country from addressing
its past. "The war of the canons ended in 1990,
people were no longer killing each other, but
after the Taef agreement we fell under a regime of
terror imposed by the Syrian dictator - by
dictator I am referring to a social,
anthropological, as well as political concept," he
said.
Azouri argued that it was not in the
interest of Damascus to allow implementation of
the Taef agreement - the peace treaty of 1989 that
ended the civil war - and national reconciliation
to take place in Lebanon.
"An internal
censure was imposed and people did not have the
courage to speak up," he said. "This prevented the
process of writing a common history, of writing
the page about the war, of allowing a debate on
what had happened. Instead, people repressed their
need to talk, their ideas, their traumas."
The stifling of national debate led to
collective depression, said Azouri. "Those who
believed there was a good reason for the war to
break out - and there were many - felt betrayed
and used." Azouri said after the war the country
witnessed a surge in cases of clinical depression
among the generation that participated in it.
"Throughout the 1990s we witnessed an
incalculable number of cases of clinical
depression in this country, to the point that one
would hear some people say they were better off
during the war. The reason behind this is because
they perceived the war years as a time when they
had a cause, an ideal to which they dedicated
their lives and all their energy."
The
widespread depression that affected the Lebanese
society could have had a salutary outcome had
there been an opportunity to discuss the issue,
Azouri said. "Depression is a good thing, because
it represents the beginning of the process of
perceiving things in another light. But this can
only happen on one condition: that one is able to
put words on it, thereby writing one's own
history. After the war, the Lebanese went through
this phase of loss, but were never able to put
words on it."
In the cry for truth by the
war generation on Hariri's assassination, Azouri
said he sees a cry for the truth about this
generation's own dead. A resolving of the former
is sought to shed light on the latter.
A
step in this direction was taken during ceremonies
to mark 30 years since the beginning of the war
during the second and third week in April. A
banner was erected in front of the national museum
in Beirut, where citizens wrote apologies to one
another for the war. A conference dedicated to the
theme of memory and national reconciliation was
organized. This led to an animated debate on the
need to address the war.
"Since the end of
the Lebanese civil war, the country has followed a
policy of denying the atrocities of the recent
past," Samir Kassir from the An-Nahar newspaper
said at the conference. "But we owe it to the
younger generation to remember. We owe it to them
to tell them about our own experience, so they
don't commit the same mistakes and fall into the
same traps. We should acknowledge the past so that
history doesn't repeat itself."
His call
is echoed by the new generation, which is
expressing the need for national reconciliation.
"I don't think there has been any real
reconciliation among the Lebanese, so I think we
need to work on this and engage in some
self-criticism," said 24-year old political
activist Sami Gemayel. "We need to go further,
think more deeply, looking at our history and take
lessons from what the country has gone through. In
doing this, we will help build a country that
can't fall into conflict again."
(Inter
Press Service) |
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